The foundation of this generation has been built on so many admirable qualities: They played smarter, they played harder, they were more physical, they were more mentally tough, they were always a step ahead, and most of all, they never beat themselves.
On Sunday, the Patriots were none of those things, and their schizophrenia put an end to their immortal ways in Foxborough. The Baltimore Ravens bombed the Pats, 33-14, giving Bill Belichick and Tom Brady their first home defeat in the playoffs and ending Brady’s 23-game home winning streak that stretched back to 2006.
And apparently, the league knew the Patriots could be had.
“We understand that this was a team capable of being beaten,” Ravens receiver Derrick Mason said. “I don’t think anyone was intimidated by the New England Patriots or their mystique.”
After the game, the Ravens whooped it up through the Gillette Stadium tunnels, shouting things like “End of an era!” as they passed underneath the sections upon sections of empty seats, which were vacated early in the fourth quarter due to the lopsided score. The Ravens believed they slayed the Patriots’ dynasty.
Down the hall, Patriots running back Kevin Faulk — the team’s ultimate captain — gathered everyone in the locker room for the last time. He told them they fought hard and instructed them to look around and be real with one another because they’d never all be together again as one unit. The players and coaches shook hands, said their goodbyes and see-ya-laters, and then they began to disperse. It was a somber scene, one rarely seen in that locker room, as it was the sign of a defeated team that couldn’t describe what they just went through.
The Patriots liked each other — they truly did — and that made the loss all that much more difficult to stomach. A slow start finished them, and their uncharacteristic mistakes led to their demise.
“I’ve never seen a ballclub play like this, not this ballclub, never,” Patriots defensive lineman Vince Wilfork said. “Six years I’ve been here, I’ve never seen us play like this. It’s pretty tough. It’s pretty tough to swallow. The New England Patriots playing the way we did, that’s tough to swallow.”
The combination of Mason’s comments and some of the Patriots’ inconsistencies this season — they were 8-for-36 on third down in the second half of their seven losses, including 1-for-5 on Sunday — put the writing on the wall. This season, maybe more than others, the Patriots looked vulnerable heading into the playoffs. But there was still that Brady-Belichick mantra, which dictated they’d always have a chance as long as those two horses were in the race.
This last week seemed different than others. Surely, the loss of Wes Welker stung the locker room, but the Patriots came to grips with it and moved on to have a great practice Wednesday. However, Thursday was a much different story, as the Patriots were critical of themselves for having a poor practice session. Whether that carried over into Sunday’s 19-point defeat can be up for debate.
Either way, the Patriots have always started strong in the playoffs during their Super Bowl era. In their six playoff openers under Belichick, they had outscored their opposition 149-69, which is an average margin of victory of 13.3 points. Those wins came against some serious teams, too, such as the 2001 Raiders, 2003 Titans and 2004 Colts, all of whom had Super Bowl dreams.
Brady insisted they’ll be back in 2010 — “hell yeah” were his precise words — but 2009 just wasn’t the Patriots’ season. It ended prematurely in their eyes. They were convinced they could beat the Ravens, Chargers and anyone else they were thrown into the ring with over the next month. The Patriots didn’t lack any confidence, but for one of the few times in recent years, neither did their opponent.
Brady’s final assessment of the season wrapped up the Patriots’ last on-field performance, too. In the end, they just didn’t sound like the New England Patriots.
“We never really had a long winning streak or anything like that where we built a lot of confidence,” Brady said. “It was kind of two steps forward and one step back. You can’t be a great team if that’s the way it’s going to be. We just came up short.”
